A Court in southwest China yesterday overturned the death sentence of a man found guilty of murder in 1998.

The Higher People's Court of Guizhou Province said the time, location and basic truth of the killing were unclear with insufficient evidence, so Yang Ming must be judged to be innocent.

The body of a woman surnamed Wang was found in Guizhou's Tianzhu County in February 1995. Yang was arrested in August as the main suspect because he had been in a relationship with Wang since 1993.

The intermediate court of Qiandongnan Prefecture sentenced him to death in 1996 with two years' reprieve. The province's higher court upheld the sentence in 1998.

The sentence was reduced to life in prison two years later but Yang continued to maintain his innocence.

Prosecutors who examined the case last October suggested the higher court review the verdict as they believed there was "unclear truth and insufficient evidence" of Yang's guilt.

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